The BRACCANZA
policy towards good health
Firstly,
I would like to say that before we even bred our first litter,
health was uppermost in my mind. I wanted to stay close to
the Italian breed standard while taking the minimum risk of
causing or perpetuating any health problem in the breed.
One of the biggest difficulties here in the UK is trying to
get in new bloodlines for the Bracco. Although we only breed
a litter occasionally and would not expect more than 2 litters
from a bitch we try to find a male outside of the UK for at
least one of these matings to bring in new bloodlines to the
UK genepool.
As
the years have gone on and by keeping records in the UK it
starts to appear that some breeding lines may have problems,
although probably through no fault of their own.
All
dogs registered with the UK Kennel Club have screening result
details recorded in the breed record supplement issued quarterly
by the KC. This places results in the public domain and can
be checked by anyone. This is not the case worldwide where
results of these tests may often be between the owner and
their country’s KC making responsible breeding even
harder.
It
is incredibly difficult to check back through most of the
Italian lines for potential problems as the Italian breeders
do not, generally, have health checks carried out on their
dogs. HD and even more so ED can go unnoticed in the movement
of some dogs and only screening can definitely rule out possible
problems.
All
BRACCANZA brood bitches are now screened for Hip Dysplasia
(HD), Elbow Dysplasia (ED) and hold a current clear eye certificate.
All sires which are considered to cover our bitches will have
as many of these tests done as are available in the country
they live in. All puppies will go to their new homes with
copies of the parents test results as well as general information.
While
we do our utmost to ensure that all dogs and bitches in our
breeding programme are HD & ED free it is not a 100% guarantee
of producing a perfectly healthy puppy. We can only do our
best to achieve this and should any problem occur during the
life of the dog we will work with the owner and vet to find
the best possible solution.
As
from 2009 the Bracco Italiano Society has begun an in depth
health survey with results available to all BIS members and
also on the website.
www.bracco-italiano.co.uk
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An
Opportunity not to be missed |
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Bracchi
in this country are in the early stages of numbers growing
and therefore this is a perfect time to start taking tests
and keeping records. This would lay the foundations for tracing
any health problems within the breed for the future. Please
consider having your dog tested wherever it came from, we
need as full a coverage of the breed as possible.
The AHT (Animal Health Trust) has offered to take, test &
store results of all tested Bracchi for a minimal fee of £5
per dog. This is simple to do yourself at home and only involves
swabbing the mouth with a long cotton bud before returning
the sample to the AHT.
Kits are available from Cristiana Hill at philip.hill50@ntlworld.com
